Analysis and comment from Memphis, Tennessee, on media, politics, culture, science, my life and anything else that catches my eye.

Monday, June 27, 2005

They Love Us, They Really Love Us

Surveys are what they are, and should always be taken with a grain of salt. But here's one that shows that reporters are paying more attention than ever to blogs:

The study finds that some 70% of journalists who use blogs do so for work-related tasks. Most often, those work-related tasks involve finding story ideas, with 53% of journalist respondents reporting using blogs for such purposes. But respondents also turn to blogs for other uses, including researching and referencing facts (43%) and finding sources (36%). Fully 33% of journalists say they use blogs as a way of uncovering breaking news or scandals.

First we're a resource; then we're the new guys; then we're peers.

Another part of this survey looked at reporters view of their profession:

# 45% of journalists are less trusting of the professional behavior of their own colleagues — up from 34% in 2003.
# 93% note that they are less trusting of colleagues who are paid to act as spokespeople.
# 79% believe that recent revelations about journalists taking payment from third parties has had a strong effect on media credibility.
# 78% believe that Rathergate has profoundly altered the media's credibility.
# 93% of journalists said they are being "excruciatingly careful" in fact-checking their stories in 2005 — a huge increase from 59% in 2003, likely a reflection of the press's declining credibility.

I love that last one. Just two years ago, nearly half of all reporters were less than "excruciatingly careful" in fact-checking. Makes you wonder what got missed in the days when there weren't all us self-appointed, publicly accessible media watchdogs out there, doesn't it?